1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inclination sensor, and more particularly to a small magnetic inclination sensor that is used in a digital camera, a video camera, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a small magnetic inclination sensor, there is, for example, an inclination sensor disclosed in JP-A-2000-146580. In the inclination sensor, a polarized movement is axially supported on a case to turn freely and, when the case turns by a predetermined angle or more, hall elements arranged on the case detect magnetic force of the movement. Consequently, the inclination sensor detects an inclination state of the case.
However, since the movement axially supported to turn freely is polarized, the inclination sensor is susceptible to an external magnetic field. For example, when there is a coil, a speaker, or the like generating large magnetic force near the inclination sensor, the movement is affected by the magnetic force to turn. It is likely that the inclination sensor outputs a signal indicating an inclination state despite the fact that the case is not inclined. Therefore, in using the inclination sensor, it is necessary to design the inclination sensor to avoid influence of an external magnetic field. As a result, a burden in design of an electronic apparatus incorporated with the inclination sensor is large and a degree of freedom of the design is small. In particular, when the inclination sensor is mounted on an electronic apparatus such as a digital camera, for which a reduction of size and high density of components are required, since there are many limitations, an applicable range of the inclination sensor is limited.